Right at that exact moment, Sasuke arrived on the battlefield.
He leaped down, landing directly in front of Naruto and Sakura, his gaze locked onto the distant Ten-Tails. At that same instant, his eyes met Kanon's. Sasuke's expression was a turbulent mix of complex emotions, while Kanon's face turned noticeably grim.
"You took your sweet time getting here, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.
Sakura froze. Staring at the boy before her, she gasped in pure disbelief, "Sasuke..."
"Sakura?" Sasuke muttered, withdrawing his gaze from Kanon to look back at Naruto.
"Sasuke? Why are you here?!" Sakura cried out.
The rest of their former academy classmates noticed his arrival as well. Ino immediately tried to rush forward at the sight of him, but Shikamaru and Choji quickly moved to block her path.
"Hey, Ino! Stay back! That guy is an enemy!" Shikamaru barked.
"Ino, don't get anywhere near him!" Choji added, shielding her with his body.
Beside Sasuke, Jugo dropped out of the sky. Looking at the crowd, Sasuke stated with utter indifference, "You guys are just as annoying as ever."
The rest of the Konoha genin converged on the spot. Kiba, in particular, pointed an aggressive finger at Sasuke. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
"Why is Sasuke even showing up now?" Sakura muttered, her mind spinning.
"It's a long story, but I've made my decision," Sasuke said flatly. "I am going to protect the Hidden Leaf Village and stop Kanon. Furthermore... I will become Hokage."
The declaration left Sakura and the others completely blindsided. The rest of their peers wore expressions of absolute shock and disbelief.
Kiba roared at Sasuke, "What kind of sick joke is a rogue ninja who abandoned the village for years supposed to be telling right now?! Do you have any damn clue what the title of Hokage even means?!"
Echoing Kiba's fierce rejection, Shikamaru gritted his teeth. "I don't know what kind of madness you've been through to arrive at this point, but that's completely impossible. Do you even hear what's coming out of your mouth?! Do you honestly think everything you've done in the past can just be wiped clean?"
"I know it can't be wiped clean," Sasuke replied smoothly. "But I don't care what any of you think of me. The former Hokage are the ones who created this broken world to begin with. That's why I will become Hokage, to change the village."
Naruto pushed himself up, stepping firmly to Sasuke's side. "The one who's gonna become Hokage is me!"
Up ahead, Hashirama turned his head back, calling out to Naruto and his group. "I'm thrilled to see you youngsters aiming so high for the title of Hokage, but you're being way too relaxed! Focus your chakra right now! We need everyone to launch a coordinated assault to take this thing down while we have it pinned!"
Naruto nodded, turning his gaze back to Sakura. "Sakura, thank you for patching me up. It's your turn to rest now. Let's go, Sasuke!"
Watching Naruto and Sasuke leap toward the front of the Four Crimson Ray Formation, their eyes locked onto the Ten-Tails and Kanon, who was now perched on its massive shoulder, Naruto opened his mouth to call out to her. Before he could utter a word, Sakura suddenly vaulted past them, landing firmly out in front.
"Sakura?"
"Did you two think I was just some helpless girl who would always lag behind you?" Sakura asked, her gaze shifting from Naruto toward the distant Kanon. "Do you honestly think that out of the legendary Legendary Sannin, Tsunade-sama is the only one incapable of training a proper apprentice? Just a little longer... my chakra is almost completely focused! I'm about to unleash my true power. I am a member of Team 7 too, and I am an apprentice to one of the Sannin!"
Gazing at the fierce, unyielding determination burning in Sakura's eyes, Naruto smiled and gave a firm nod. Standing in the center of their line, he pointed a finger across the field. "Kanon!"
Sure enough, Naruto's booming shout successfully drew Kanon's attention away from the other Hokage.
Seeing her gaze lock onto them, Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, "Alright! Kanon is listening, and even though she's standing on the other side, I'm declaring it right now, Team 7 is officially resurrected! Kanon, we're coming for you!" Naruto wore a rock-solid, confident grin. "Let's move, Sakura, Sasuke!"
Sakura and Sasuke nodded in unison. On the opposing side, Kanon slowly rested her hand on the hilt of her Kusanagi Sword, her icy gaze piercing right through the three of them.
"Doesn't this scene just make your blood boil with nostalgia, Shikamaru? Except Kanon is standing against us now," Ino whispered softly.
"Regardless of how we feel, Sasuke is willing to help us take down Kanon. We don't have any other options right now, even if I hate to admit it," Shikamaru nodded grimly.
"Aside from Shino, it's been ages since all of us classmates have stood together like this! I think this is the first time since the Chunin Exams," Choji noted with a soft chuckle.
"The one who's gonna be Hokage is me! Hey! Are you guys even listening to me?!" Kiba yelled, though Hinata was the only one who offered a quiet response beside him.
"Kiba... I'm listening. The Hokage is what everyone aspires to be, after all."
Naruto stood flanked by Sakura and Sasuke, pointing his finger directly at Kanon as he roared, "Kanon! We're about to show you the absolute strength of our bond!"
Kanon merely listened to his shouting with an air of complete detachment, the corners of her mouth gradually curving into a beautifully sinister arc.
"The Chunin Exams, is it..." she murmured. "In that case, you will all suffer the exact same ending as that exam, absolute defeat by my hand."
Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto met her gaze with fierce, resolute smiles. Yet, just as the army prepared to charge, Hashirama's voice boomed across the field.
"Wait a moment!"
Naruto nearly tripped over his own feet in exasperation.
Sure enough, at that exact instant, the Ten-Tails began gathering a massive Tailed Beast Bomb on its own, intending to violently breach the Four Crimson Ray Formation. Kanon cast a fleeting glance at the beast. Attempting to force its way out right now was incredibly foolish; the Ten-Tails clearly lacked tactical intellect, making its intentions painfully transparent to their opponents.
Predictably, Minato barked an order to the other Hokage. "It's trying to shatter the barrier! Former Hokage, stay alert and reinforce your positions!"
"I am well aware!" Hiruzen yelled back.
"Let me handle this..." Tobirama stated with supreme confidence.
As the chakra of the Tailed Beast Bomb swelled to an astronomical volume, Kanon remarked with chilling indifference, "Even powerhouses of the Hokage caliber cannot easily maintain a barrier against this level of force."
With those words, Kanon placed her hand flat against the Ten-Tails' hide. Naruto and his group immediately picked up on her movement. However, the four Hokage managing the barrier were entirely focused on stabilizing the formation; only Hashirama managed to perceive the true nature of what was happening.
"Wait... that can't be..." Hashirama gasped. "Hey! Everyone—"
Before the First Hokage could finish his warning, the titanic form of the Ten-Tails and Kanon vanished into thin air.
The Flying Raijin Technique!
"What?!" Minato gasped in sheer shock.
"Tragic!" Tobirama's face lost all color.
The coordinate the Tailed Beast Bomb was now pointed toward was none other than the division commanded by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, encompassing the forces of the Sarutobi clan and a massive contingent of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Meanwhile, the location the Ten-Tails had materialized upon was the very rock formation where Madara was lounging.
Kanon had seeded her Flying Raijin kunai across every corner of this battlefield. Though she had yet to fully perfect the mechanics of the Flying Raijin Technique, teleporting a massive entity directly to a pre-existing seal on a person was significantly easier for her than targeting a loose item.
At this moment, nestled on the left side of Madara's neck was a distinct flower seal, the Flying Raijin marker Kanon had left behind.
"You certainly know how to seize an opportunity, Kanon," Madara mused smoothly.
"Old man Madara, how about I treat you to a spectacular firework display?"
Boom!
The moment the words left Kanon's lips, the colossal Tailed Beast Bomb detonated directly into the center of Hiruzen's division.
"Lord Third, please save us!" A chorus of terrified screams erupted from the surrounding alliance ninja and Sarutobi clansmen as they witnessed the apocalypse descending upon them. But Hiruzen possessed nowhere near the level of power required to neutralize such a disaster.
In that hyper-critical instant of the detonation, Kanon used the Flying Raijin to flash herself and the Ten-Tails back inside the Four Crimson Ray Formation, utilizing the red walls to completely insulate themselves from the external blast radius.
The cataclysmic explosion instantly obliterated everyone caught within that corner of the battlefield, including the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. A blinding, searing flash of light coupled with a devastating concussive shockwave ripped into the heavens, the blistering heat wave violently blowing Naruto and the rest of the vanguard off their feet.
The contingent of the Sarutobi clan stationed in that sector was entirely wiped out, leaving only a microscopic handful of survivors who happened to be interspersed with other divisions elsewhere on the battlefield.
"Grandpa Third!" Naruto shrieked.
The faces of their former classmates twisted in sheer horror. The sequence of events had unfolded with such terrifying velocity that Naruto hadn't even found the time to channel his Nine-Tails chakra before the apocalyptic explosion tore the landscape apart.
The entire army turned their trembling, heavy gazes toward the interior of the Four Crimson Ray Formation. Kanon sat perched atop the head of the Ten-Tails, her legs crossed as a menacing, twisted grin broke across her features. The sight of that expression sent a violent shiver straight down Naruto's spine.
Though undeniably beautiful, her smile was thoroughly warped and pathological. Kanon didn't utter a single sound; she merely stared down at Naruto and Sasuke, completely disregarding the rest of humanity as insignificant dust.
"Old man Sarutobi... have you finally felt a shred of pain?"
Kanon gazed coldly toward the epicenter of the blast, where Hiruzen's physical form was slowly piecing itself back together. Thanks to the properties of the Reanimation Jutsu, he was entirely incapable of truly dying.